Cosmopolitan.com: The Virginia Tech Murder

by Ada CalhounJune 04, 2015

On June 1, 2015, I spent 8 hours at the Montgomery Circuit Courthouse in Christiansburg, Virginia, for the sentencing hearing of Jessica Ewing, who killed her friend Samanata Shrestha at Virginia Tech last year. I wrote a story about the case for Cosmopolitan online. Here's an excerpt: "I think most people are probably scratching their heads," Ewing's lawyer, Tyson Daniel, told Cosmopolitan.com by phone before the hearing. "Because the only thing that has been presented all this time has been the commonwealth's evidence." And what the commonwealth described in its summary of facts was bleak: Shrestha had invited Ewing over for dinner. At the apartment, Ewing strangled Shrestha, then put the body in a sleeping bag and put it in the victim's car. Her plans to burn the body were thwarted when a friend wouldn't help her. She described this in a damning journal entry as: "Some friend. He fucking won't even help me move a goddamn body … friendship test failed."Read the rest here.